November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual commemoration of transgender persons whose lives were lost due to violence. In 2019, violence took the lives of at least 22 transgender or gender non-conforming people. In remembering them, we also remember the core truth that transgender health is public health, and we cannot be healthy, as a society, as long as marginalized groups face a disproportionate risk of illness and harm. Discrimination and marginalization of the LGBTQ population is associated with a range of health conditions, including substance use, anxiety, and mood disorders. Additionally, LGBTQ populations may have less access to health care. On a larger scale, we know that discrimination in general is significantly associated with negative health outcomes as broad-ranging as depression, heart disease, obesity, hypertension, and substance use, and we are in need of better data on the health effects of being transgender specifically. Globally, transgender women are nearly 50 times more likely to get HIV than the general population, and transgender individuals who are also members of an ethnic or racial minority are at even greater risk of discrimination and harassment.
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Read full piece at Psychology Today.